


Strangers in a Strange Land

by somehowunbroken



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-24
Updated: 2012-08-24
Packaged: 2017-11-12 18:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/494541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earthlings are so very strange... but then, so is most of the universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strangers in a Strange Land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [earlymorningechoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlymorningechoes/gifts).



> Thanks to ariadne83 for helping me bounce ideas and for the beta!

“Earth isn’t so different from what I’m used to,” Jonas says. In the next second, he jumps and spins as Sergeant Siler runs by at full speed, yelling something about plants and vines and wrenches, which Vala decides is probably a good deal more interesting than it sounds at first. By the time she turns back to Jonas, he’s smiling at her somewhat sheepishly. ”Okay, maybe it’s a little different.”

“Here’s the thing,” Vala says, patting her bed. She waits until Jonas sits down to continue. “I’ve been on loads of worlds, seen billions of people, experienced so many different cultures that I ran out of fingers and toes to count them on before I turned ten years old. Want to know what I learned?”

Jonas smiles. “Is this a ‘people are the same’ thing or a ‘people are different’ thing?”

“Exactly,” Vala says, pointing at him. “People are people, which means that they’re all the same and they’re all different.”

“Some days I wish for a little more same, a little less different,” Jonas admits. “I miss Langara, you know? I miss some of the people there, and my favorite dining hall, and _qualine_ flowers.”

Vala cocks her head to the side. “Have you seen baby’s breath flowers here? They remind me of _qualine_ flowers. They’re generally white, but Sam showed me how you can change their colors with dye. I bet we could get them the right shade of orange with a bit of practice.”

Jonas smiles again. It’s a nice smile, Vala thinks. It softens his face and makes him look… not younger, but less like the world has broken around his shoulders. “That would be nice.”

“It’s a date,” Vala says, matching his smile. “The plants grow wild along the roads out here. We can probably dig a few up without even leaving the grounds.”

Jonas opens his mouth to say something, but before he gets the chance, Sergeant Siler runs past Vala’s door again. This time, Dr. Lee and a few of his assistants are running after him, carrying some slim metal tubes with nozzles.

Jonas frowns. “Aren’t those things meant for putting out fires?”

Fire extinguishers, Vala remembers. “I think you’re right,” she says. “The alarms aren’t going off, though. I’m sure everything’s fine.”

“Fine,” Jonas repeats. “The last time someone told me things were fine, I ended up needing to evacuate the planet.”

“Not true,” Vala says immediately. “Sam told you last night that the mashed potatoes in the mess hall were fine to eat. We haven’t had to evacuate even a little bit.”

Jonas gestures down the hall. “Yet.”

Vala grins. “I bet that’s not due to the mashed potatoes, though.”

“I hope you’re right,” Jonas says with a shudder. “I ate some of them.”

“You’ll be fine,” Vala says, patting his leg. “They’re not actually sentient. I’ve eaten sentient potato-things before, and they tasted very different.” She only lasts about five seconds before the horrified look on Jonas’ face makes her break into giggles. “Oh, darling, I’m exaggerating. They weren’t sentient at any point in their existence, though they were rather more animal than plant.”

“Don’t do that to me,” Jonas groans. “For all I know, potatoes grow legs and can talk in other parts of the universe.”

“Well, I can’t rule it out completely,” Vala says, “but I’ve yet to run across them.” She leans in conspiratorially. “I think that if we do find them, though, you and I can take them.”

“I’d rather leave them,” Jonas says immediately. “Why would you want one?”

Vala laughs again. “Earth slang,” she explains. “We can take them on. Beat them. They’re no threat to us.”

Jonas looks relieved as he grins. “Earth words are strange.”

“Words are strange everywhere,” Vala says cheerfully. “On one of the worlds I’ve called home, they call small dogs _paraquas_. Tomin called them _ananboles_. Here, they’re _Chihuahuas_.”

“Earthlings cross their fingers for good luck,” Jonas says. “How does that bring luck?”

“We mostly just ducked,” Vala says thoughtfully. “When you’re looking for luck, it really helps if you try to create a little of your own.”

Jonas laughs. “I’m inclined to agree with you.”

“Excellent choice,” Vala declares, smiling back at him. “Earthlings are the strange ones. Crossing their fingers. Tossing salt over their shoulders. _Chihuahuas_.”

“The rest of the universe are the normal ones,” Jonas agrees. “Though they did have the Goa’uld.”

“And the Ori,” Vala adds. “And the Lucian Alliance.”

Jonas groans again. “Everywhere is strange, isn’t it?”

“That’s probably a good way to think about it,” Vala says. “If everyone is strange, then nobody is strange, right?”

There’s a moment of silence before Jonas replies. “The only word I can think to use to describe that thought is ‘strange,’ and I really think we’ve said that enough in this conversation.”

Vala laughs. “Some days just end up… strange,” she teases, and Jonas smiles.

“There are some things that are similar from planet to planet,” Jonas says. “Even on Earth.”

“Oh?” Vala replies. She can feel the smile curving her lips. “What might those things be?”

“Well, most of them have trees,” he says. “Water. Atmosphere.”

“True, true,” Vala says, nodding. “People tend to group together, rather than scattering.”

“People tend to pair up,” Jonas says, smiling slowly. “I haven’t yet heard of a world where that didn’t happen.”

“A good point,” Vala agrees. “They even pair up on Earth, the land of the strange.”

Jonas nods. “Even when they’re not from Earth.”

“See, it can’t be such a strange place,” Vala laughs, and then Jonas is smiling and kissing her, sweet and light.

They both look up when someone knocks on Vala’s door. It’s Sergeant Siler, Vala notices just as the alarms start going off.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, “but there’s some sort of… I don’t know, it’s a vine, or it might be a bug, we’re not entirely sure. Anyway, we’re going to have to evacuate the base for a little while.”

He looks completely mystified when Vala and Jonas both break into laughter, but that’s quite all right. Vala leans in, kisses the tip of Jonas’ nose, and stands, offering her hand. “Come on. We’ll pick some flowers while we’re on the surface.”

“It’s a date,” Jonas says, smiling back.


End file.
